That description and statline reminds me alot of one you'd have seen in 2004. I'd much much rather see us win a game by over 20 points with 236 yards passing than with 500. Hopefully the run game can continue to take the load off of Brady's shoulders which have been carrying alot of weight since 2007.

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I think it's important to note that they can win with running and minimal passing. But, they can certainly win with passing and now can access all 3 zones on the field.

Thus, BB and co can tailor a game plan for any team out there to feature run or pass and can defenses will certainly have to pick their posion on who to double. The perfect example being the Hernandez TD. The safety had 2 TEs to cover and could only pick 1. He cheated to Gronk (naturally) and TB picked Hernandez.

I agree about Welker. Brady has lots of options and besides, Wes himself said he would have liked to play more in the preseason. I didn't expect him to be at midseason form but it would have been nice!

7. Ridley's running reminds me a lot of Matt Forte....and that's a good thing. I think what impressed me most about his 125ypc and almost 6ypc, was that his longest run was just 17yds.

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What was interesting is that in the first half it seemed to be feast or famine for him. He'd either break the 10+ yard run, or he'd get stuffed for 1 yard or worse. I was thinking to myself, "This is fine in the first half, where you just need the defense to respect the run, but late in a game you need more consistent positive yards to close out games."

Then what does he do? Gets consistent positive yards in the 2nd half and closes out the game. Very impressed by his game yesterday.

First mission.......expand the the field both vertically and horizontally on offense. Device used ....Brandon Lloyd
Second mission....establish running game, ball control offense, own time of possession

The game tape is in and future opponents are freakin out. Front 7 must respect the run....they have no choice based on the game 1 results. So what's a D to do.....they prefer LBs vs the running game which gives our TEs an advantage on pass patterns......and safeties have to respect LLoyd deep or Lloyd working the sidelines. Check out the offensive snaps.....Both TEs played 100% of O snaps....they create so many problems and force Ds to make choices....and Brady will exploit the certain mismatches. Bottom line....with Lloyd and a serious running threat, the field has expanded and our passing game is no longer between the hash marks. Maybe next week, Ariz feels Welker isn't a priority and less resources get deployed to cover him........The NE offense is so balanced that Brady can get back to the early years of the best receiver is the receiver thats open.....Time of possession in Week 1....NE 31 minutes/Tenn 29 minutes

What was interesting is that in the first half it seemed to be feast or famine for him. He'd either break the 10+ yard run, or he'd get stuffed for 1 yard or worse. I was thinking to myself, "This is fine in the first half, where you just need the defense to respect the run, but late in a game you need more consistent positive yards to close out games."

Then what does he do? Gets consistent positive yards in the 2nd half and closes out the game. Very impressed by his game yesterday.

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Your pretty close to the truth here. Reiss noted (IIRC) in one of his stats that in 4 of his runs he gained 0-2 yids and in 4 others he lost yardage. That means in 8 of his 21 carries (almost 40%) he gained virtually nothing. Ergo he gained all of his 126 rushing yards in just 13 carries.

I'm not sure whether I should be concerned about the lack of consistent production on every carry or be even more impressed by the explosiveness and how often he generates big yardage.

Your pretty close to the truth here. Reiss noted (IIRC) in one of his stats that in 4 of his runs he gained 0-2 yids and in 4 others he lost yardage. That means in 8 of his 21 carries (almost 40%) he gained virtually nothing. Ergo he gained all of his 126 rushing yards in just 13 carries.

I'm not sure whether I should be concerned about the lack of consistent production on every carry or be even more impressed by the explosiveness and how often he generates big yardage.

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As I said in the game thread, he is the anti bjge!

As too Hightower blitzing...he said at least once. Flying up the c/g gap and throwing the rb back into locker (maybe it was the old guy...) To force a hurry. My favorite play of the fast was Hightower blowing up TWO blockers, and still being able to swing the rb down for a loss with one hand while reaching over the same two blockers.

Because I was roundly criticized for daring to declare in a few of the dozens of offseason Welker threads that Welker's stats would be diminished substantially this year because.....1) 2011 Ds were not up to speed when the season started (Welker accumulated 600 yds and 6 TDs after 4 games (150 yds/game) but "only" averaged 75 yds/game in games 5-16) 2) Lloyd would eat into his catches 3) BB would combat the poor 2011 time of possession imbalance with an emphasis on the running game.....

I'll try to keep a running tab on 2011 Welker vs 2012 Welker. Listen....I'm not a hater....I luv the little guy to death and I have always looked at the Welker contract situation more in terms of deploying assets (aka $$$$$). With premium $$ alotted to Brady/Gronk/Hernandez/and 3/$12 mill spent on Lloyd, I have NEVER viewed Wes as worth double salary compared to the other 3 guys.

Jake Locker is one of those QBs you will love sometimes, and hate other times (as a Titans fan)....

Kind of like a Brett Favre or Jay Cutler. Can do amazing things one play, and then make a bonehead mistake the next play. I think that's the type of QB he will be in this league. With that said I do think he'll be very good and probably make more good plays than bad.

Kendall Wright is also the real deal. He might be a Top 5-10 WR in this league for the next generation.

As too Hightower blitzing...he said at least once. Flying up the c/g gap and throwing the rb back into locker (maybe it was the old guy...) To force a hurry. My favorite play of the fast was Hightower blowing up TWO blockers, and still being able to swing the rb down for a loss with one hand while reaching over the same two blockers. Holy *****.

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That play was amazing. Not only was he engaged with a blocker(s) but he was completely aware of where the running back was. You would think a RB would be able to run through a tackle like that but when Hightower grabbed him all the RBs momentum was lost. That play speaks volumes to Hightower's abilities

Your pretty close to the truth here. Reiss noted (IIRC) in one of his stats that in 4 of his runs he gained 0-2 yids and in 4 others he lost yardage. That means in 8 of his 21 carries (almost 40%) he gained virtually nothing. Ergo he gained all of his 126 rushing yards in just 13 carries.

I'm not sure whether I should be concerned about the lack of consistent production on every carry or be even more impressed by the explosiveness and how often he generates big yardage.

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I was encouraged because he became more consistent in the 2nd half (where getting at least 4 yards each time is more important). He still wasn't perfect, but better than his first half. And like you said, the ability he has to break big runs adds a dimension we didn't have much last year.

Because I was roundly criticized for daring to declare in a few of the dozens of offseason Welker threads that Welker's stats would be diminished substantially this year because.....1) 2011 Ds were not up to speed when the season started (Welker accumulated 600 yds and 6 TDs after 4 games (150 yds/game) but "only" averaged 75 yds/game in games 5-16) 2) Lloyd would eat into his catches 3) BB would combat the poor 2011 time of possession imbalance with an emphasis on the running game.....

I'll try to keep a running tab on 2011 Welker vs 2012 Welker. Listen....I'm not a hater....I luv the little guy to death and I have always looked at the Welker contract situation more in terms of deploying assets (aka $$$$$). With premium $$ alotted to Brady/Gronk/Hernandez/and 3/$12 mill spent on Lloyd, I have NEVER viewed Wes as worth double salary compared to the other 3 guys.

Actually, I think your offer to monitor Welker's production is a very good idea.

One game does not a pattern make, but Brandon Lloyd is on pace to surpass last season's "elite" guest receiver by halftime of week 4 in receptions, so Welker's production should diminish, and that would be a good thing because it would mean there's more happening outside the numbers opening the middle of the field for Welker and the tight ends.

It also means it will be less costly to keep Welker beyond this year, which would be a great thing.

Nevertheless, I think Welker catches 90 passes or more for 800+ yards even though he's on pace for "just" 48 receptions and 224 yards in 2012 after week one.

Actually, I think your offer to monitor Welker's production is a very good idea.

One game does not a pattern make, but Brandon Lloyd is on pace to surpass last season's "elite" guest receiver by halftime of week 4 in receptions, so Welker's production should diminish, and that would be a good thing because it would mean there's more happening outside the numbers opening the middle of the field for Welker and the tight ends.

It also means it will be less costly to keep Welker beyond this year, which would be a great thing.

Nevertheless, I think Welker catches 90 passes or more for 800+ yards even though he's on pace for "just" 48 receptions and 224 yards in 2012 after week one.

Only speculating here, but Welker did miss a bunch of time at the end of camp. It could be as simple as him not being in condition enough to run all those plays. Another hypothesis is that a lot of the plays Edelman was in for him were running plays and Edelman is a better blocker. (though as I recall Welker is a decent blocker for his size.

Listen people are going to over react and over analyze Welker's stats all season. We ought to get used to it now. There will be threads about the conspiracy to keep him from getting targets, to ones claiming he's hit the wall and is all done. Either way he will remain easy fodder for discussion